Another great week for corn, soybean planting

Producers from across the country made impressive strides over the last week as the end of corn and soybean planting nears.

According to the USDA’s Crop Progress report, 88 percent of corn was in the ground as of May 25, identical to the five-year average and slightly above last year’s pace of 84 percent.

In total, 10 of the top 18 corn-producing states are within 10 percentage points of completing their corn planting for the season. Producers in North Dakota were able to make up for lost time, advancing by 50 percentage points from last week’s report.

Around 60 percent of corn has emerged, compared to the five-year average of 64 percent and last year’s report of 49 percent. All states are reporting at least 10 percent of corn emerged.

Soybean planting, on the other hand, is faring a bit above average. The report showed 59 percent of the nation’s soybeans in the ground, 3 percentage points higher than the five-year average and 18 percentage points above the 2013 pace.

All states made impressive strides in planting soybeans, though Iowa advanced the most. Soybean planting across Iowa advanced by 40 percent from last week’s report.

Twenty-five percent of soybeans have emerged, putting this year’s crop slightly behind average but more than double that of 2013.